[In the following essay, Makino presents an analysis of Hearn's “Yuki-Onna,” noting its inspirational debt to one of Baudelaire's poems.]

“Yuki-Onna” (“The Snow-Woman”) is one of the best known and popular stories of Lafcadio Hearn. Although included in Kwaidan (1904), a collection of Japanese weird tales completed in the year of his death, the story of “Yuki-Onna” is not only horrifying but also beautiful and fantastic.